Fittingly, we’ll honor one service academy’s on-field excellence as we pay tribute to our military veterans off of it.
As is the case every game, Army used a punishing ground attack to hold off Duke’s advances in a 21-16 win at West Point. The Black Knights came into today’s action leading the nation in rushing at 365.4 yards per game; the Blue Devils actually performed well in that arena, although the Knights still churned out 227 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground.
Army attempted just one pass in the game, which Ahmad Bradshaw completed for 42 yards. It was just the team’s 57th attempt on the season; the only other team in that aerial neighborhood is 82.
The win is Army’s eighth this season versus just two losses, giving the Black Knights its best record through 10 games since the 1996 team stood at 9-1. That team, coached by Bob Sutton, is the only one in this academy’s history to finish a season with double-digit wins.
This year’s team could break the football program’s record for single-season wins with victories in each of its last three games -- at North Texas, rival Navy, bowl game. As it stands now, they will play in a second straight bowl game for the first time since 1984-85.
One final historical note on what’s going down at West Point: the 16 wins for Jeff Monken‘s squads in 2016 and thus far in 2017 are the most over two seasons since those 1984-85 teams. Two more wins would give them 18, its best two-season stretch since 1945-46.
